Meet the XS-1, the spaceplane that can hit Mach 10

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Back in 1960’s, a spy plane called the SR-71 Blackbird debuted with the ability to cary a human being faster than anybody had ever imagined — over three times the speed of sound. That was believed to be the limit of practical speed increases in-atmosphere; maybe it would be possible to go faster than that, but would there ever be any need to actually do so? Well, today DARPA is working on a successor called the SR-72, planned to be capable of a jaw-dropping Mach 6. Yet, for all the effort necessary to create such a plane, we already have a vehicle that can go much, much faster than that — the space shuttle regularly reaches speeds of Mach 23 or higher, but it can only do so without the burden of pushing its way through air. As such, a hybrid between an atmospheric plane and a specialized spacecraft has long been desirable — so-called spaceplanes.

A new spaceplane design from Northrop Grumman and Virgin Galactic called the XS-1 hopes to embody the best of both worlds, as part of a contract for DARPA that could change both the military and commercial flight industries. This is actually just one of three major proposals for the XS-1, the others coming from teams led by Boeing and Masten Space Systems. Each of the teams will be competing to undo the traditionally awful practicalities of spaceplanes; between the costs and hassles of launch and landing, the expertise needed to make and maintain them, and the dangers of moving in and out of the planetary atmosphere, it was a questionable investment just to go a bit faster.

The XS-1, however, is meant for a single-day turnaround time. More to the point, it is meant for many successive days of service without rest or maintenance, aiming for a peak of 10 launches in 10 days. With a goal of just $5 million per launch, or about 10% current figures, it could drastically change the landscape for everyone from telecoms companies to international travelers. It takes off and lands on regular runways though, so no fancy vertical takeoff magic like SpaceX.

A TEL vehicle: Transporter, Erector, Launcher.

The XS-1 keeps costs and engineering problems down partly by getting rid of the pilot; the XS-1 features autonomous systems for launch, orbital maneuvering, docking, reentry, and landing. That might seem like a huge leap to take (self-driving cars aren’t even legal yet, after all) but several space agencies have already testing similar designs. The Chinese space agency recently gained some momentum after successful testing of the automatic docking system on their Shenzhou spacecraft.

It will also use a “clean launch pad” by launching off of a transporter erector launcher (TEL) — basically a launch pad that can drive. This would be one of the larger TEL efforts to say the least, but if it works it could make launches to space much more versatile. Of course, zoning and aeronautical laws mean that you’ll still have to spend years choosing and approving a launch site, but the cost benefits seem to be more than good enough on their own.